Sourabh Chandrakar Wiki, Age, Wife, Family, Biography

Sourabh Chandrakar is an Indian businessman who is the promoter of Mahadev online betting app. He gained notoriety in 2023 when he was implicated in a money laundering case involving the app.

Wiki/Biography

Sourabh Chandrakar was born on Friday, January 13, 1995.29 years old; As of 2024) Located in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, India. He is a saint at Bhilai. Attended Thomas College. His zodiac sign is Capricorn. In 2019, he moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates and founded Mahadev Book Online App.

physical appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 9″

Hair Color: black

Eye Color: black

family

parents and siblings

Chandrakar is the son of a former employee of Bhilai Municipal Corporation. His brother Gitesh Chandrakar managed a juice shop ‘Juice Factory’ in Nehru Nagar, Bhilai. Later, Gitesh joined Saurabh on fraud charges.

wife and children

He married Harshita in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates in February 2023.

Signature/Signature

job

humble beginnings

In 2023, Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal were investigated for their alleged involvement in a money laundering scheme linked to the Mahadev online betting app. The two had humble beginnings in Chhattisgarh. Talking about Chandrakar in an interview, his acquaintance Rakesh said:

His father worked in Nagar Nigam. You can imagine the financial situation of the family. He was as average as can be. No one, not even him, would have imagined that this kind of money would come to him.”

Reportedly, Chandrakar earned Rs 10,000 a month working as a salesman at Bhilai’s clothing store. Around 2016, he was working at his brother’s juice shop called Juice Factory in Nehru Nagar, Bhilai. Chandrakar, who was addicted to online betting, stole money from the store.

Saurabh Chandrakar used to hang out at Sooraj Mobile in Bhilai’s Akashganga complex. He was a cricket enthusiast and his journey into the world of betting started with the sport. While talking about Chandrakar in an interview, his acquaintance Mahesh said:

Earlier my mobile shop was down this road, right next to where he (Chandrakar) was sitting. For 8-9 months we interacted daily until it was shut down when his Mahadev app IDs started selling like hotcakes.”

Meanwhile, Uppal ran a tire shop. According to some sources, Uppal came from an upper-middle-class family from Bhilai and ran an oil-related business under contract for installing boreholes. Uppal has been involved in betting for over 10 years when he founded the app. Uppal left Bhilai a few years ago, but whenever he visited his hometown, he would meet friends, mainly local gamblers, at the paan stalls in the Akash Ganga market. It was there that he met Chandrakar. Together they started their journey as a local bookmaker targeting people at a hyper-local level. In 2018, they moved to Dubai and built the Mahadev online betting app.

Rise of Mahadev Online Betting App

The betting app is an umbrella syndicate that provides an online platform for illegal betting websites to register new users, create user IDs and engage in money laundering through a complex network of Benami bank accounts. Users can bet on a variety of activities, from election results to games such as poker, card games and cricket. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided owners with an opportunity to grow their rackets. The pair hired operators and agents to take advantage of the lockdown period, when people were working from home or sitting idle, to win over customers.

While Chandrakar and Uppal managed operations from Dubai, it was Raja Gupta, also known as Raj, who represented the app in Bhilai. After dropping out of school, Raj worked as a salesman at a clothing store in Akash Ganga market, earning Rs 1,600 a month until 2016. Later he got involved in cricket betting. Raj worked in a mobile store. He would go on the circuit and encourage market traders to place bets to raise money to buy mobile chargers and headphones. Raj’s lifestyle underwent drastic changes after joining hands with Chandrakar. He bought an i20 car and an iPhone, wore gold and silver jewelery, and had a flashy presence on social media that led many to believe he was the owner of a betting app. According to reports, Raj was last seen in Bhilai in 2021. According to ED and police sources, Raj’s role was to recruit young individuals from Chhattisgarh, take them to Dubai and sell their customer login IDs to operators for a few lakhs. While Chandrakar and Uppal kept the most profits, gamblers like Raj earned around 20%. Police said that like Raj, there are other youngsters in Bhilai whose fate changed overnight by collaborating with Chandrakar and Uppal. Many of the 150-odd young people from UP, Bihar, MP, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have been taken to Dubai to undergo training in back-end operations, from issuing IDs to handling fund flows from potential customers. Some stayed on, but others were sent back to India to handle the work there. One person who has been to Dubai said:

I went to Dubai in December 2021 because I desperately needed money to pay off my debt. Our family of about 70 people from Chhattisgarh stayed in a villa in Dubai for six months. I was paid 40,000 rupees a month, of which I sent 10,000 rupees to my family. They paid for our food and accommodation and we were able to move around Dubai.”

Chandrakar and Uppal conducted gambling operations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Targeted at the masses looking to make easy money, betting rackets soon flourished and expanded their reach to countries such as India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They have built a network of around 4,000-5,000 panel operators across India who will help bettors create accounts, place bets and process financial transactions on the app. Syndicated franchise panels or branches are linked to known associates at a 70-30 profit ratio. Officials found that panel operators were earning Rs 40-50 lakh per month. A large-scale hawala operation was set up to divert betting proceeds to offshore accounts. The racket was promoted through advertisements and paid endorsements from celebrities such as Huma Qureshi and Hina Khan. The duo has grown to the point where they have a monopoly on illegal offshore gambling in India and have acquired brands such as FairPlay, Reddy Anna and Lotus365. They have also launched new brands under the names ‘Betbhai’ and Ambani Book’.

Suspicion of partnership with Daoud Ibrahim’s D Company

In 2023, ED found that Chandrakar and Uppal were affiliated with D-company, an organized crime syndicate founded and controlled by Indian gangster and drug lord Dawood Ibrahim. Reportedly, after the success of Mahadev Book app, Chandrakar got in touch with some influential people in UAE who are close to Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Mushtaqeem Ibrahim Kaskar. Impressed by Chandrakar and Uppal’s profits from the betting app, Kaskar asked the duo to develop a similar betting app for Pakistan. In 2021, Chandrakar launched a betting app called ‘Kheloyar’ in Pakistan with the protection of Dawood Ibrahim and the support of ISI. This app also worked in India. Several Bollywood celebrities including Govinda, Randeep Hooda, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Daisy Shah, Rashmi Desai and Shefali Jariwala supported the Pakistan-based app through video clips.

Kheloyar gaming app was also one of the sponsors of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), a T20 cricket tournament in Sri Lanka, along with several other illegal betting platforms in July 2023. According to sources, Kaskar gifted Chandrakar and Uppal a villa in Saudi Arabia. Reportedly, Chandrakar and Uppal’s huge spending not only attracted the attention of intelligence agencies but also criminal elements. According to reports, gangster Lawrence Bishnoi approached Chandrakar using an illegally obtained mobile phone from his cell in Tihar jail to demand extortion. Chandrakar, however, rejected the demand for protection money and issued a stern warning, citing his underworld connections. Police suspected that Chandrakar was under the protection of the Dawood Ibrahim gang.

arrested in dubai

Sourabh was detained in Dubai on October 11, 2024, and handed over to Indian law enforcement agencies for trial. The arrest came after Interpol issued a red corner notice against him.

ED probe into alleged fraud

Mahadev app first came under the scanner of Chhattisgarh police after a man, who was a regular on the platform, committed suicide in Durg district. During the investigation, it was revealed that he had placed bets online. Then the racket came into the spotlight during Chandrakar’s extravagant Rs. $200 million wedding in UAE in February 2023. Chandrakar hired a private jet to ferry his family members from Nagpur to the UAE. He also invited celebrities like Ranbir Kapoor, Atif Aslam, Vishal Dadlani, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Tiger Shroff, Sunny Leone and Nushrratt Bharuccha to his wedding, which led to the ED’s probe. Subsequently, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) special court in Raipur issued non-bailable warrants and look-out circulars against Chandrakar and Uppal. In 2023, 14 people, including the promoters of online betting apps Chandrakar and Uppal, were named as accused in the ED’s complaint. The chargesheet was filed in a special PMLA court in Raipur. The ED has issued a Look Out Circular (LoC) against Chandrakar and Uppal. According to investigative agencies, the proceeds of crime are estimated to amount to approximately 600 billion won. In February 2024, Chhattisgarh Police announced that Rs. 35,000, Rs. 25,000 from Durg IG and Rs. 10,000 in SP.

nationality

Chandrakar holds a Vanuatu passport. The two reportedly obtained citizenship of the Oceanian nation of Vanuatu to avoid arrest in the Mahadev betting app fraud case. It is known that they also applied for an Australian residence visa.

Mahadev The mover behind the screen of betting app scandal

Vikas Chaparia

Vikas Chaparia was a small-time stockbroker from Kolkata. He invested heavily in the Indian stock market on behalf of Chandrakar and Uppal. ED has acquired a market stake worth around Rs 236 crore. Like Chandrakar and Uppal, he too took Vanuatu citizenship and was often seen with app promoters. He is also abstaining.

Chandrabhushan Verma

Chandrabhushan Verma worked as a sub-inspector in Chhattisgarh police. He was instrumental in keeping the people behind the app safe from police and politicians in Chhattisgarh. He was the main connector between Chandrakar and Chhattisgarh, ensuring that everything ran smoothly and that he received a significant portion of the profits made through illegal channels from Dubai. Verma distributed these profits to senior police officers and politicians, helping Mahadev app become a leading betting platform. The ED found that he had close links with Vinod Verma, political advisor to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. They also discovered that he had succeeded in corrupting the entire police system in Raipur and Durg districts of Chhattisgarh with the money he got from Dubai. The ED also found evidence that Verma had purchased several properties in the name of his family members since 2020. Chandrabhushan Verma’s mother-in-law Yashodha Verma founded a company called Aditya Trading Company in her name. Initially, it was believed that the company was engaged in grain and rice trading, receiving significant funds from rice millers for the sale of grain. However, it was later revealed that these transactions were fake, and the money in the company’s account was recognized as illegal profits related to the Mahadev App incident. According to the ED, Chandrabhushan’s father Punaram and father-in-law Shivkumar were partners in Shrijan Associated and were receiving proceeds of crime disguised as actual trade payments.

Satish Chandrakar

He was in constant touch with Ravi Uppal in Dubai and reported on the daily operations of the app. He was the owner of four panels of Mahadev betting app. The ED also found that money would be offered on behalf of Chandrabhushan Verma to government officials and politicians to ensure that no action was taken against the betting app.

Anil Damani and Sunil Damani

The Damani brothers played a key role in moving large sums of money through hawala. The money sent by Uppal and Chandrakar from Dubai was passed on to Damanis, who then passed it on to police agents and others. They charged a fee of Rs 100 per 100,000 dollars and are believed to have helped transfer around Rs 55-60 crore in hawala money for the Mahadev app promoters.

Vishal and Dheeraj Ahuja

According to the ED, the Ahuja brothers oversaw ticketing operations for Mahadev app promoters, family members, business partners and celebrity supporters of betting websites such as FairPlay.com and Reddy Anna app. They have handled travel arrangements for a variety of events, including the star-studded annual event held in the UAE in September 2023. The ED also found that the Ahuja brothers owned nine sections of FairPlay and Reddy Anna apps and used fake bank accounts for transactions related to ticket bookings. Pawan Nathani, who is closely linked to the Ahuja brothers, was also responsible for providing fake bank account details used to process betting transactions on the Mahadev app.

Murugank Mishra

On October 16, 2023, fraud accused Mrugank Mishra (25) was detained by security personnel at Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport upon his arrival from Dubai. Mishra is accused of helping app promoters open hundreds of dubious bank accounts to divert money generated by fraud. His custody was later handed over by a police team in Rajasthan, where he faced a cheating and forgery case related to the Mahadev app.

etc

Others involved in the scam include Atul Agarwal, Nitish Dhawan, Amit Shah and Rohit Gulati. All of them were in Dubai when the fraud occurred.